While it's a fairly capable weapon, as it's traditionally been held in the hands of those who've killed tens of thousands of Americans, I'm not sure it deserves mention.
Besides, of the five separate ones I fired, four of them jammed something fierce, a problem I never hand with the M-16A2 I fired for qual years back. Only one fired true, and that one was owned by a gunsmith.
My take is that if it takes a gunsmith to render it true, why would anyone rely on it for any use whatsoever? (unless one is a gunsmith)
You did not fire AK's that were true. This is the importers fault. I recently bought an AK-74 and done a lot research before my purchase. What I found out is there is basically two versions. The 'grab bag' version, and the new parts versions. "Most people buy the "grab bag" version simply out of ignorance and price ($300-$400 vs $700 and up)
What happens with the cheap units is boxes of receivers, barrels, bolts, pistons, ect., come in. The importers just start grabbing (used) parts and assembling the rifles. So you now have a rifle with a bunch of mismatched parts. You may get "lucky" and buy one that works like a dream, and you may not.
I am 99.9% sure this is the issue with the ones you shot. Easy to tell also, just tear the gun down and look at all of the serial numbers of the the parts. They are supposed to match, if they don't, then it is a "grab bag" victim.
What I can say is, I have a
new AK-74 (a new model 47,
basically only changed the caliber.) and have not had a single issue with it.
